


Incompatible Interfaces

by PaddlingTheCanoe



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Drabble, Established Relationship, Feelings, Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Only T because of curse words, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Self-Indulgent, hand holding, incompatible interfaces, no beta we die like men, so many feelings, this is what makes me sad about android/human ships, written at 2 am, you caught me monologue-ing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 18:17:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15690771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaddlingTheCanoe/pseuds/PaddlingTheCanoe
Summary: Gavin worries that Nines is missing out on special intimacy by being with him rather than another android. Nines shows Gavin that they don’t have to be in sync to be in love.





	Incompatible Interfaces

**Author's Note:**

> This was written at 2 AM. I’m coming out of fanfic retirement for this trash. How did we even get here? This ship shouldn’t exist but now I can’t sleep because of FEELS. 
> 
> Anyway, the android/human ships in D:BH are great, but it depresses me that they can’t do the hand thing because as an asexual that kind of intimacy really struck a chord with me. But then I’m like, you know, love conquers all so fuck it and write some fluff goddamnit!
> 
> And did I mention I have a weak spot for emotional monologues? No? Well, you’re in for a surprise or five.

Gavin was walking back to his apartment when he saw the couple. 

They were two androids. It was obvious, but not because of an LED or uniform. They had probably shirked those a while back. What made it so clear was the way their hands were clasped together, white and luminescent. Against the backdrop of the winter snow, Gavin almost couldn’t make out the hands at all. They blended into the background and might as well been one mass. The detective hesitated and watched the couple leaning into each other. Their connection was so deep that it appeared they did not even notice the steady stream of bustling pedestrians around them.

Gavin had heard about this from Connor. The RK800 had explained that androids could interface with each other through this kind of touch. The mutual sharing of memories was considered extremely intimate and satisfying for the partners involved. Connor had possessed this wistful look in his eyes as he described it. 

The human man was shaken from his thoughts as the couple moved on. Their hands were still clapsed, though their skin had returned to make them look like any other couple on the street. The detective tried to fight the rush of anxiety that threatened to crash over him as the androids left his sight.

They had looked so happy, so at peace, when they were connected. Even androids without special modifications for intercourse could have at least that much with their partner. They could have a mental link, a connection that proved their feelings and bonded them. They could come together in a simple touch that spoke so much more than Gavin’s limited vocabulary.

He could never give something like that to Nines. His android partner, in more ways than one, was waiting for him to come home from dinner with his brother. Nines was waiting, probably reading or analyzing or whatever, for his incompatible partner to come home, spend maybe two to four hours with him, then have to leave him again to sleep precious moments away. And Nines would lay on the bed beside him, super still, as he waited again for Gavin to wake. The process would repeat, over and over, until Gavin Reed turned to dust. 

The detective felt more anxiety building. Nines was basically waiting for Gavin to die. He was tied to this finite mortal thing and was losing potentially decadez of potential intimacy and happiness with another android. Gavin was a speed bump on the road to forever for the RK900. He was inefficient. Unlovable, because why waste the time? It was like falling in love with a goldfish. Or a fruitfly.

These thoughts kept racing through Gavin’s head as he made the last leg of his journey home. He opened the door to his apartment with an ever increasing feeling of dread. He stepped inside and took his time removing his boots and coats. Each moment was a battle to control his uneven breaths. 

“Hey. How was your dinner?”

Shit. There he was, the subject of Gavin’s existential meltdown, in the flesh. Nines rounded the corner to the entryway and instantly tilted his head. It was a motion he picked up from Connor, an indication that he was trying to piece something together without using his investigative systems. He had long promised Gavin that he would never analyze him without consent. The fact that that kind of promise needed to be made to keep them on an equal playing field sent another wave of guilt crashing over the detective’s struggling ego. He was treading water and losing the battle with drowning.

”Gavin, babe, come here. Come sit down. What happened? What’s wrong?” The android’s voice was permeated with concern, concern that Gavin did not deserve. He hated himself for appreciating it. The human allowed himself to be led to thier comfortable leather sofa. They sat, and Nines wrapped his arms around his partner as the latter breathed raggedly into his chest. Nines did this whenever the panic, the anxiety, the day to day fight of it all, was too much for the human. He was always there, always knew how to bring him down from the edge. After undoubtably a very long time, Gavin sat back. His mind was clearer. The panic had faded, but the insecurities remained. He needed to be honest with his partner. Needed to get it off his chest.

”I saw two androids holding hands on the way home. Doing the fucking interface thing. They looked so... happy. Fucking content. Connor’s told me it’s like super intimate and awesome and I thought about you and what you could be having if you weren’t wasting your time on me. I’m nothing, Nines. I’m an asshole that’ll reach his expiration date a good hundred and fifty years before you do. I’m just a blip on the radar. I’ll come and go and then no one will know I was here. You could have something great. Damn, you could have something fucking epic. More than a century with someone else. Two, even. And the worst part is that I can’t stop being selfish and loving you. And I know this doesn’t make sense, but the hands made me think about it and... And it would all be so much better if I could at least give you something like those androids have. Shared memories or proof or whatever for this all to mean something and last, but I can’t. I’m it, and I’m a pretty shitty consolation prize for deviancy. You deserve so much more than what I can be for you, Nines. I just... I can’t understand why you stay.”

The android calmly listened to Gavin’s entire diatribe against himself. When he was sure the human had exhausted himself, he leaned forward to press a tender kiss to the other’s forehead. Careful to make sure Gavin was on board, Nines brought on of the human’s hands forward and held them in his own. The android linked their fingers together and slowly allowed the artificial fluid of his skin to pull back past his wrists. Gavin choked as he watched the process.

”Gavin Reed,” Nines began, his voice dripping with how earnest he was, “I love you. I have loved you from the moment you punched me in the face and asked me to leave you alone. I knew you needed me more than I needed lines of code and structure and all of the bullshit I clung to. I ripped down the wall between us, and I kissed you. And you kissed me. I became a deviant in your arms, Gavin. I didn’t do it to have some epic romance to last out the rest of my life. I did it to have an epic romance with you. And babe, I will escort you to the egress of this life with as much joy I had as I embraced you for the first time. Gavin, you are an asshole, and you taught me how to be one, too. The first time you said you loved me, it was a joke. You said, ‘We’re two assholes in love’ to a colleague who commented on our standoffish natures. And then you looked at me so scared and I smiled back and you knew. I didn’t have to say it. You didn’t have to clarify. We just got it. Gavin Reed, we don’t need to interface to know each other. We just do. I don’t know how this will end. Neither of us can. But I do know is that I will see it through. And you don’t need to worry about what will last. I record every second that we spend together. And when you’re old and gray and start to forget the finer details, I will be there to play them back for you in HD. You’re not weighing me down, Gavin. You’re giving me a reason to be more than a machine. I love you, babe. Always will, I’m afraid. You’re not getting rid of me so easily. I am admired for my tenacity, and if it takes a hundred, a thousand, a million nights like this, I will convince you that you are loved.”

Gavin was man enough to admit that he was crying. Nines leaned over thier conjoined hands to plant a chaste kiss to the other’s mouth. Gavin breathed into it, cherishing the feeling. When Nines pulled away, he brought his skin back up over his hands. His partnered marveled at the feel of it and wondered why they hadn’t held hands like that before. While they may be incompatible interfaces, the skin to... deeper layer was nice. Intimate. Not the same as sharing memories, but maybe even more so because it was entirely unnecessary. It was Nines showing Gavin that he wasn’t afraid of their differences, that he loved him in spite of or maybe even because of those differences. 

The insecurity was still there. The anxiety was a buzz at the back of his skull. But Gavin felt welcome and comfortable and so very much at home in Nines’s arms. The detective knew this would be enough to tune out the noise for a while. And he knew that his partner would be there to quiet the roar again. And again. And again. Because Nines was designed to never fail at his mission, and if his mission was to love Gavin Reed, well, Gavin was willing to accept that. 

**Author's Note:**

> Also, Nines calling Gavin “babe” is my addiction. Someone get me help. 
> 
> Also also, thanks for reading. :)


End file.
